According to an NBA source, coaching candidate Stan Van Gundy told the Warriors he wanted total control of basketball decisions as a condition of taking the job.

No surprise: Warriors management declined to take him up on that, which couldn't have surprised Van Gundy, either, if he has been paying attention to how Joe Lacob's front office works (though maybe SVG has been paying VERY CLOSE attention to what happened to Mark Jackson).

But Van Gundy had a reason to request full control /. . .

He could get all that in Detroit, according to a report by Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski, which explains a lot.

Former Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy and the Warriors don't look like they are a match. (Associated Press)

Mostly, it explains how Van Gundy felt empowered to ask the Warriors for so much, almost certainly knowing that Lacob didn't set up his front office in order to hand it over to somebody he barely knows.

I don't know if the Warriors and Van Gundy can re-open discussions and maybe find a middle ground after the new developments. But it sure doesn't sound like they will.

What I was told Tuesday morning -- literally, minutes before the Detroit news hit -- was that the Warriors had Van Gundy at the top of available candidate list.

As a coach.

Maybe Van Gundy was their top choice; we know the conversations got serious because you can't get to "I want total control" without the conversations already in a serious mode.

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That's when the Warriors slowed down on Van Gundy and when I was told that this process could take more time.

It seems clear that Van Gundy had an inkling or already knew that Detroit -- which has vacancies at both GM and coach -- was interested in talking to him for a dual role, so he wanted to know if the Warriors would match those terms.

That's fair negotiations. Hard-ball, but fair.

But ceding all basketball ops power to anybody would essentially mean pushing general manager Bob Myers aside, blotting out executives Jerry West and Travis Schlenk, and removing Lacob himself from day-to-day oversight.

That just isn't going to happen.

One thing to note: This scenario might repeat itself in varying ways, because most of the basketball universe just watched the Mark Jackson meltdown accompanied by some chatter that the Warriors have "too many cooks" involved in the basketball process.

My sense is that NBA people blame both sides for the Mark Jackson breakup (Jackson for his sensitivity and coaching issues, the Warriors for an occasionally difficult front office) and it will be interesting to see how both sides deal with the after-effects.

The top candidates might think, if I don't bring this up now I'm destined to get over-run by the Warriors front office. They might believe they can finesse better than Jackson did, but, again, if you have options, you bargain hard.

And this might be the ultimate deal-or-no-deal point for the Warriors right now.

It might not just be SVG who asks about marginalizing Myers and the rest of the basketball ops, and maybe to shove Lacob to the side in an informal way.

But we'll see.

Wojnarowski is now reporting that Steve Kerr and the Knicks are stalemated right now and the Warriors plan to go back in hard to try to land Kerr.

I've been told by Warriors sources that salary is not going to be an issue in this search. They might be part of Kerr's negotiations just like they might have been part of Van Gundy's Detroit negotiations, but Kerr is somebody the Warriors would A) Pay top market price for and B) Know well enough that he wouldn't need to demand total basketball power (I would think) . . .

I think the Warriors were always going to talk to former NBA head coaches Lionel Hollins and Nate McMillan, and I'd assume those discussions occur very soon (formally or informally -- McMillan is Indiana's top assistant, so his availability could be delayed).

I also think Clippers assistants Alvin Gentry (also a former head coach) and Tyronn Lue might get a look from the Warriors whenever their playoff run ends, if the timing works.

The Warriors probably can invest some time and thought in Mike D'Antoni, Mike Brown, George Karl and a few others.

And I'm still suggesting Iowa State's Fred Hoiberg, UConn's Kevin Ollie or Chicago's Tom Thibodeau as very intriguing candidates, but again, those have to be under-the-radar contacts and may never actually go through the official process if they remain where they are.